This invention relates generally to the field of athletic equipment and more specifically to a machine for testing and training jumping and reaching ability.
Reaching, the standing jump and the running jump are attributes of an athlete, particularly for volleyball, basketball, tennis, and football, to name a few sports. By testing jumping ability can be measured and compared over time for the same individual or compared to other players. With training jumping ability can be improved.
A commonly used jump tester is the Wall-Mounted Vertical Jump Board which comes in two forms, one uses Velcro and the other one uses magnetism for attaching marking indicators. A board with a linear scale is attached to a wall. The subject jumps and attaches a hand held adhesive or magnetic marker to the wall board. Disadvantages of these boards are (1) the inability to use for a running jump, (2) the hand held marker requires flexing the fingers away from the vertical which does not allow a full reach measurement, (3) the need to retrieving the adhesive or magnetic marker from the board, and (4) a stationary wall is required to attach the board.
The tester used by large organizations is the Vertec jump testing device (U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,903). It consists of adjustable movable color-coded multiple movable vanes to measure vertical reach. The device weighs 55 lbs and mounts to a steel base that is secured with 10 lbs weights or bolted to a wall with a metal plate. Disadvantages are (1) a designated area is required because it is heavy, large, and has many parts, (2) requires manual resetting the vanes after each use, and (3) is costly.
Time elapse measurement is another method of measuring the vertical jumping height. Vertical jump measuring device (U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,647) describes using switches (transducers) to measure the time from the beginning to the end of a jump. The square of the in-air time is multiplied by a constant to derive vertical jump height and the height is displayed. Disadvantage of this method is (1) the flexing position of the legs and body in not taken into account and this can influence the time/height relationship, (2) to determine the vertical jump reach, one must also measure the standing height of the jumper and add this to the jump height measured, and (3) electronic components that require calibration measurements.
None of the current jump testers and trainers fulfills all of the following attributes of an ideal jump tester and trainer: (1) the ability to measure standing and jumping reach, (2) readily portable, (3) useable indoors and outdoors, (4) requiring no designated space or wall support, (5) requires no resetting or adjustments after each use, and (6) requires no calibration.